Overlapping portfolios clog Syngenta - Chemchina merger

ChemChina and Syngenta AG have submitted formal remedies to the European Union in a bid to win regulatory approval of the Chinese state-owned company's $43 billion planned takeover of the Swiss pesticide-and-seed maker.

DowJones.com reports that the EU opened an in-depth review into the merger in October. At the time, it stressed that Syngenta and Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd., an Israeli maker of generic pesticides that is controlled by ChemChina, had "strong overlapping portfolios" of crop-protection products such as herbicides and insecticides.

The EU is weighing the ChemChina-Syngenta deal alongside two other major tie-ups in the global crop-seed industry: DuPont Co.'s planned merger with Dow Chemical Co. and Bayer AG's $57 billion takeover of Monsanto Co. In particular, the EU has been closely scrutinizing how the reduced number of industry players could impact innovation and research and development for new products.